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The best RPGs can be found on PC, whether you’re looking for intense combat, sophisticated build crafting, or a huge, branching tale that responds to your choices. But how can you know which games in a genre known for games that might take hundreds of hours to complete are worthwhile?
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We’re going through the top RPGs available right now in this list, including both time-tested favorites and fresh newcomers that are worth your time. Additionally, there is a huge diversity to enjoy because RPG systems are constantly changing. There is something for everyone here, regardless of your preferences, from fantasy to science fiction, from JRPG to ARPG, from dialogue trees to dice rolls.
The Best First and Third-Person RPGs
Elden Ring
With its Souls series, FromSoft has mastered the art of creating environments that are intrinsically dangerous. Elden Ring, the studios’ largest map to date, is a vast area filled with danger and mystery. A vast journey full of opportunity where learning is rewarded with breath-taking boss battles. Because of its open-world concept, which offers you more control over the challenge and tempo, it is possibly the easiest FromSoft game to date to play even if it is bigger and more expensive than its predecessors.
But don’t worry. Elden Ring is a game about defeating bosses by trial and error and eventual mastery, much like Dark Souls before it. It’s also as strange and unique as the studio has ever been, putting a light on the evils of its world rather than concealing them away in a deadly swamp, yet leaning toward more conventional fantasy. With its numerous build crafting choices, which enable you to customize your character and battle style in a variety of ways, it’s some of FromSoft’s best work as an RPG as well.
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The Witcher 3
The best RPGs frequently center on stories of lone, traveling heroes, but few, if any, do so as masterfully as The Witcher 3. The location itself, which is so full of gorgeous sunsets and wind-tossed groves of trees that, years later, I still find myself choosing to go somewhere on foot rather than taking the rapid travel links, is where that creativity is most clearly displayed.
The Witcher 3’s actual power, though, lies in the NPCs that it scatters throughout these iconic locations, doling out dozens of brief but memorable tasks that contribute to one of the most human RPG experiences available. The witcher Geralt might come across poor elves fighting against bigotry in deteriorating outlying settlements; in other places, he might assist a so-called baron in reconciling with his long-estranged daughter. These quests expertly address moral dilemmas without being preachy or providing simple fixes.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
You’re probably certain to find some minor adventure or interesting aspect of the environment. Skyrim’s abundance of activities is what makes it so consistently rewarding. A trip to the Mages Guild will result in a comprehensive search for information. A chance encounter with an NPC will take you to a remote dungeon where you will search for a legendary artifact. You might come upon a dragon while collecting berries on a mountainside.
And don’t worry if you run out of stuff to do; modders will always have more for you to do. Some on the PC Gamer staff keep a modded-up Skyrim install ready, just in case they feel like adventure; that’s some high praise, considering how active the community has kept Skyrim in the Steam top 100 since its release and offered us limitless ways to adventure across a beautiful world.
Mass Effect 2: Legendary Edition
The best game in this category is Mass Effect 2, which streamlines the cumbersome systems of its predecessor to concentrate on the action and the outcomes of the decisions you, as no-nonsense space captain Shepherd, make along the way. It’s a terrific third-person cover shooter as a result, and it’s even better at simulating relationships between coworkers. You’re tasked with assembling a group that will survive what appears to be a suicide mission.
The Legendary Edition is fun to play through since, in reality, you’ll want to complete the entire series. The excitement of Mass Effect comes from seeing your decisions come to fruition tens, even hundreds of hours later. And over the course of the three games, you’ll create enduring ties with your motley group. Don’t let Mass Effect 3’s contentious ending deter you; the game has a ton of different outcomes that all elegantly culminate in the Citadel DLC most of which do honor your crew.
Fallout: New Vegas
Even though Fallout 3 was a hit, it was an altogether different animal from Interplay’s earlier games. Reintroducing themes like reputation and faction power battles, Obsidian’s interpretation of the game relocates the action to the West Coast. By enhancing almost every facet of Bethesda’s approach, Obsidian transforms the game’s focus from good vs evil to who to trust. Additionally, it incorporates a lot of the humor we loved from the old games. After all, how can you not love a game that gives you a nuclear grenade launcher?
The “Hardcore” setting in New Vegas reduces the effectiveness of RadAway and Health Stims, adding interest to the challenge of surviving in the wasteland. It makes the game more challenging but also more satisfying. If that’s not your style, there are a ton of other mods and tweaks available, including Josh Sawyer’s balance-tweak mod, the director of the game. We adore New Vegas’ ability to bring back the Fallout vibe within Bethesda’s first-person RPG framework.
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Monster Hunter Rise
Capcom gave us a vast, open-world adventure with Monster Hunter: World. It maintained much of the series’ core monster-hunting mechanics but did so on expansive levels that required a stronger emphasis on exploration and movement. Rise, though, slows things down. The action concentrates on what makes the series great: slaying powerful beasts, thanks to smaller maps. Every mission throws you against one of the game’s star monsters, requiring you to become familiar with its attacks and employ a fresh set of weapons and strategies to defeat it.
When playing multiplayer games with friends and facing off against even stronger opponents, it excels. Additionally, there is a highly fulfilling crafting loop that allows you to transform monster pieces into brand-new armor and improved weaponry that you can use to take on ever more difficult challenges. The battlefields may be smaller, but Monster Hunter Rise is perhaps the best iteration of the franchise you can play right now thanks to its more approachable multiplayer, improved combat tactics and core focus on what actually counts.
Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord
You have complete flexibility to leave your mark on the planet in a real RPG sandbox. There is no overarching narrative campaign to follow; instead, you are free to define your own objectives and pursue them however you see fit. Engage in gladiatorial combat, smuggle commodities, engage in war, gather followers, invest in trade caravans, or accept a few missions from a regional lord. Afterward, assassinate that lord, betray him, and seize his property.
Still, in Early Access, Bannerlord is frequently updated with fresh features and bug fixes. However, even in the absence of a full v1.0 release, there is enough here to warrant a recommendation. You can lose yourself in Bannerlord for months or perhaps years because it has multiplayer and modding features in addition to its single-player sandbox.
Deus Ex
In the video game Deus Ex, each decision has an intriguing result. Its plot is a convoluted web of intrigues, with many characters flat-out lying to you or at the very least attempting to use you to further their own hidden objectives. Therefore, how you approach an objective might have long-term effects. And the plot isn’t the only thing that urges you to think about your strategy. Other potential options will be eliminated by your skill choices and installed augmentations. Since it is not possible to access every upgrade, you must select the ones that will serve you and the character you are creating the most effectively.
As a result, you are treated to a profoundly freeform experience that rewards your keen observation and careful consideration of every circumstance. Is the data you have accurate? Is there a more effective solution to the existing issue? Should I have given swimming more points? Any action you can imagine, you can probably carry out, and the game will respond accordingly. Games are still having trouble replicating its level of immersive worldbuilding more than 20 years after its release.
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Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
Everything in the game revolves around mood, from the haunted Ocean House Hotel (one of the best quests) to the dark alleyways where you scavenge for rat blood to the goth clubs where you make contacts. Bloodlines looks and plays differently from the other sword and sorcery games on this list because of its ambitious usage of White Wolf’s vampire mythology.
Sadly, that hallmark Troika ambition also brings with it a lot of glitches and several mechanics that just don’t work well together. There are some particularly dreary dungeons in the endgame, but no other game completely immerses you in the world of the vampire. Since the game’s release, the fanbase has been updating and enhancing it, making it a true cult classic of RPGs.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2
While BioWare’s original KOTOR is a classic Star Wars game, KOTOR 2 moves the series in a more daring path. The sequel to The Jedi Exile of Obsidian deals with shades of grey rather than highlighting the Light or Dark sides of the Force. Alliances are formed, broken, and then reformed afterward. Your seemingly wise decisions end up betraying other characters. The resulting product is possibly the most complicated villains and most sophisticated understanding of The Force in the entire Star Wars Expanded Universe.
Like many early Obsidian games, KOTOR 2’s rushed production forced the removal of entire regions. Another example of how PC gamers will work hard to maintain their favorite games is the restoration of most of that content, including a droid planet, and the fixing of several outstanding issues by a fan-made mod.
